Dorothy May Emerson

This book caught my eye at GA 2014 in Providence, Rhode Island. I bought a copy and had it signed by the authors, with whom I had a pleasant chat before making myself leave the bookstore area before I spent any more money.

Overall I found this book encouraging. There are so many different ways to serve as a community minster, and it's so exciting to read about the work that community ministers are doing. It was also interesting to think about bringing the message and meaning of Unitarian Universalism to the population outside of the congregation. It helped me to understand the motivations of my friends who are/have been missionaries in other denominations. It was, however, a bit disheartening to read about the isolation and scrambling for funds that community ministers almost universally seem to have to do, although the reasons for this lack of institutional support---based in large part in the friction between the Unitarian tradition of power residing in congregations and the Universalist tradition of walking the talk in the wider world---prompted some ah-ha moments for me about the denomination.

It took me a while to get through it, but I'm very glad I read this book.… (more)